POLITICS:I don't understand this statement. Can someone be kind enough to explain it to me please?

Question

“Every political system is embedded in a particular patter of orientations to political action.”

By Gabriel Almond. What did he really meant with this phrase?

political culture

Answer 1

Almond was one of the first popularizers of the term,
which originated in the 1950s in an effort to capture
the recurring patterns of thought and behavior of particular
nations and groups which formerly had been discussed under
the rubric "national character." At the time, everyone who was
conscious of the evils of racism and stereotyping and what
they had brought about only a decade earlier, wished to avoid.

Don't grow gray hair though.
Political Science just WISHES to be science.
That is exactly why they try to sound so swollen.

Oh before I forget:
Some refer to it as the Political Cultural Pentagon, i.e.

political organization
civil society
polity
political action
political economy

so you'll have all the "orientations" :)

Answer 2

D.T. Elazar has a comment that is similar, although the words are moved around. Seems he would be a contemporary of Almond.

This is a description of political culture...meaning, that each political system has it's own culture, and that culture runs deep (meaning it's embedded) in the political process...and it's dang hard to change (if you even want to).

Understanding this cuture can make it much easier to work within that political system, though. This works at all levels...city political systems have it as well as federal levels (think political machines of Chicago here). Anyway, the culture really is the pattern...it set's the stage for how everything operates...will graft be tolerated, vilified, or supported, for instance. That's set by the political culture.

Answer 3

Yikes.

I take from it, there is order even to the chaos in politics or that is politics.

I'm not sure if that is accurate.

It could be that politics goes in a cycle. Or maybe he's saying that like with different generations, there is a pattern present, things that tie them together.

But really, I'm not sure. The more I read it, the more murky it becomes. It's not well said. It seems like a statement not to be to taken too literally.

If nothing is being done then it will stay like that for a time.
If a lot is being done then it will continue on for some time.

?? Maybe.

Answer 4

Jargonising has become the order of the day.
Not that I deprecate Mr.Gabriel Almond.He could very well have stated that every political
system,be it communist,socialist,democratic,
autocratic,dictatorial(so on and so forth) is deeply rooted in set ways and ideas of determining what course of action is to be followed and what would be the true position
of such system with regard to attitudes,
judgments of the adherents as in a new
situation.The explanation at first would seem to be more confusing than the original but if one were to sit down calmly and analyse the paraphrasing, maybe a glimmer of light will dawn.That's the best I could do.Good luck in
your effort to unravel further the enigmatic
statement of Mr.Almond.

Answer 5

All political systems are designed to support something. In the middle ages the monarchy system was designed to preserve the nobles as a class. Peasants were tied to the land and the land was used to tie the nobles to the monarchy.

Totalitatianism is designed to preserve itself. One leader in charge. If anyone disagrees they are eliminated. The class and system that developes below the dictator are there to preserve the dictator and his projects while insuring their own status and safety. The people at the bottom are expendable.

A democracy is designed to preserve the market place. The idea of the system is to insure the operatiuon of the free market even to the point of fighting other systems that do not value the free market.

Answer 6

The type of political system determines the kind of actions a government will take. For example, democracies act a certain way in a certain situation, while dictatorships will act a different way in the same situation. What he means is there is a certain predictability to how a govt will act.

Answer 7

Every political system is firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass in a particular rapid or smooth-flowing continuous talk of determination of the relative position to political action.


Did that help any?

Answer 8

I think Mr. Almond meant that each political system is very set in it's ways, like an old man that refuses to change... and that each system will, for that reason, continue to "function" with policies that don't get their necessary jobs done, or keep the system in step with social changes.

Answer 9

It's hard to say. Mr. Almond will not go down in history as a great communicator, obviously.

Answer 10

Each political system has a defined pattern of how they it will govern.